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Soldiers
A fourteen-thousand-ship armada of alien invaders threatens Earth's Commonwealth of Worlds as it threatens to annihilate all human life throughout the galaxy in order to make room for its own colonists. Original.
608 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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About the author
John Dalmas
50 books33 followersJohn Dalmas—pseudonym for John Robert Jones—wrote many books based on military and governmental themes throughout his career. He grew up in Minnesota and Michigan and resided in Spokane, Washington. He was a parachute infantryman in WWII and was discharged in 1946 without ever being put seriously in harm's way. He has worked as a longshoreman, merchant seaman, logger, construction worker, and smokejumper. He attended Michigan State University, majoring in forestry, but also took creative writing.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 10, 2023
Despite the rather cheesy cover art and 'old fashioned' beginning, Soldiers proved to be quite a good read. I am a sucker for good military science fiction, and this does feature an invasion of 'human space' by a massive alien fleet, but really, this just serves to center the story. What Dalmas serves up here (and if the publication date is correct, he wrote this in his 70s) is a nuanced reflection on the human condition, as only a skillful juxtaposition to an alien mentality can really do.
At first, this felt like a mashup novel of short stories; something many authors did during the 'golden age' of scifi, compiling 'shorts' from magazines into one volume. We have a strange alien armada arriving at the edge of human space, and not really by their own design (they come from another galaxy altogether); a small pirate base on an outlying planet; a small research center on an aquatic world working with dolphins, etc. Essentially, the aliens have arrived to conquer, as they have done in the past in so-called 'swarms', in about 16000 ships. When they arrive at a human planet, they slaughter everyone to the last man and set down a 'tribe' to colonize it before moving on to the next one.
Humanity, after some dodgy 'troubles' in the 22nd and 23rd century, now lives largely in peace in the 'Commonwealth'. Many planets were colonized by religious and other like-minded groups and war has been almost forgotten. The Commonwealth's navy consists only of a handful of light ships to fend off pirates. The only thing that really holds the Commonwealth together besides some limited trade is their means of instantaneous communication via 'savants' who can mentally link with one another across space. So, the president etc. of the Commonwealth knows the aliens are coming, and must somehow prepare/construct a navy/armed force/etc. to counter them or be wiped out. Whew.
Now, all of what I have written so far fits within pretty standard scifi tropes and at first, this really felt like some Golden Age scifi, even though it was published in 2001. What Dalmas does well here is provide the reader with a wide range of characters from different worlds as we follow their experiences getting ready for the invasion. Two people, a couple from a 'heavy grav' world, enlist in the army, despite the planet/culture they come from is largely pacifist Christian, and we follow their trials and travails. Dalmas also gives space to a 'peace' faction on Terra, who first reject the invasion as some government plot, and then just want to embrace them. We also spend some time on the alien fleet, learning about them as they try to learn from the three people they took as prisoners on the dolphin planet.
Soldiers is military scifi however, and make no mistake about that. Dalmas gives us several excellent action sequences, both on the ground and in space. While I really liked this, it was not amazing. The aliens, despite having seven genders, four legs and such still seemed to have rather human emotions and thoughts. And yes, this is rather tropey for sure-- alien invasion and all that, plus 'war bots' and so forth. Yet, Dalmas also gave it an emotional impact, in part as the human condition featured so prominently. I have read some Dalmas before (he contributed to the excellent War World series, which begins with The Burning Eye) and will definitely check out some more of his work. 4 space opera stars!!
At first, this felt like a mashup novel of short stories; something many authors did during the 'golden age' of scifi, compiling 'shorts' from magazines into one volume. We have a strange alien armada arriving at the edge of human space, and not really by their own design (they come from another galaxy altogether); a small pirate base on an outlying planet; a small research center on an aquatic world working with dolphins, etc. Essentially, the aliens have arrived to conquer, as they have done in the past in so-called 'swarms', in about 16000 ships. When they arrive at a human planet, they slaughter everyone to the last man and set down a 'tribe' to colonize it before moving on to the next one.
Humanity, after some dodgy 'troubles' in the 22nd and 23rd century, now lives largely in peace in the 'Commonwealth'. Many planets were colonized by religious and other like-minded groups and war has been almost forgotten. The Commonwealth's navy consists only of a handful of light ships to fend off pirates. The only thing that really holds the Commonwealth together besides some limited trade is their means of instantaneous communication via 'savants' who can mentally link with one another across space. So, the president etc. of the Commonwealth knows the aliens are coming, and must somehow prepare/construct a navy/armed force/etc. to counter them or be wiped out. Whew.
Now, all of what I have written so far fits within pretty standard scifi tropes and at first, this really felt like some Golden Age scifi, even though it was published in 2001. What Dalmas does well here is provide the reader with a wide range of characters from different worlds as we follow their experiences getting ready for the invasion. Two people, a couple from a 'heavy grav' world, enlist in the army, despite the planet/culture they come from is largely pacifist Christian, and we follow their trials and travails. Dalmas also gives space to a 'peace' faction on Terra, who first reject the invasion as some government plot, and then just want to embrace them. We also spend some time on the alien fleet, learning about them as they try to learn from the three people they took as prisoners on the dolphin planet.
Soldiers is military scifi however, and make no mistake about that. Dalmas gives us several excellent action sequences, both on the ground and in space. While I really liked this, it was not amazing. The aliens, despite having seven genders, four legs and such still seemed to have rather human emotions and thoughts. And yes, this is rather tropey for sure-- alien invasion and all that, plus 'war bots' and so forth. Yet, Dalmas also gave it an emotional impact, in part as the human condition featured so prominently. I have read some Dalmas before (he contributed to the excellent War World series, which begins with The Burning Eye) and will definitely check out some more of his work. 4 space opera stars!!
July 20, 2016
In John Dalmas’s Soldiers, 14,000 alien warships appear from nowhere in the human Commonwealth and start attacking entire planets, exterminating all of the humans, and resettling and terraforming these worlds for themselves – kind of six limbed, powerful mini-dinosaurs with brains and guns. Typically all humans die. The Commonwealth doesn’t even find out about this until this has happened to several planets and warning is gotten away secretly.
The Commonwealth is unprepared for this, as it hasn’t had war in centuries, and it has virtually no fleet nor army to speak of. In order to get the time to build up both, more worlds will fall and more people will die.
A lot happens in this book as we follow one particular group of recruits from a religious-based (as in zealots) planet as they train, as well as following the build up of the fleet and the tactics used in an effort to gain intelligence and to “annoy” the enemy. Additionally, there are peaceniks at home who think this is all a hoax, "peaceniks" who want peace so badly, they are willing to kill to get it. It all makes for good drama and a pretty good book. The ultimate land and orbital battles are tactically gripping and are well written. You can draw certain conclusions from this book, philosophically, although I wouldn’t put it in the same category as Ender’s Game or its sequels. Still, if you want to think about things, you can. If you don’t want to, just enjoy the explosions. It’s typical Dalmas – a four star book and recommended.
The Commonwealth is unprepared for this, as it hasn’t had war in centuries, and it has virtually no fleet nor army to speak of. In order to get the time to build up both, more worlds will fall and more people will die.
A lot happens in this book as we follow one particular group of recruits from a religious-based (as in zealots) planet as they train, as well as following the build up of the fleet and the tactics used in an effort to gain intelligence and to “annoy” the enemy. Additionally, there are peaceniks at home who think this is all a hoax, "peaceniks" who want peace so badly, they are willing to kill to get it. It all makes for good drama and a pretty good book. The ultimate land and orbital battles are tactically gripping and are well written. You can draw certain conclusions from this book, philosophically, although I wouldn’t put it in the same category as Ender’s Game or its sequels. Still, if you want to think about things, you can. If you don’t want to, just enjoy the explosions. It’s typical Dalmas – a four star book and recommended.
April 25, 2018
Good military story, science fiction. People attacked by aliens that look like lizards, small dinosaurs.
Lots of action, interplanetary invasions. Characterization well done.
Lots of action, interplanetary invasions. Characterization well done.
November 10, 2025
I love that the book shows the hard work and logistical planning it takes to build a military practically from scratch.
Complete with instant traditions!
Complete with instant traditions!
May 18, 2015
Soldiers by John Dalmas
This isn't a new book. It was published in 2001. Looking at Dalmas birth date, he appears to be 89 years old. I find that interesting in that his first book that I read was The Yngling that was serialized in Analog magazine in 1969. I guess as you age, you find other people older than you still kicking around and you have hope that you will be doing the same when you are that old.
Soldiers depicts an alien invasion of stupendous proportions. Play close attention in the first few pages to discover how the aliens got to our galaxy. It is referred to several times during the story but it can be easily missed.
Dalmas takes a contrarian opinion when writing this book. Most stories see the human race as extremely competitive and very pugnacious. Dalmas takes a different tact an depicts the human race as having divested itself of negative, war like behavior. He doesn't state it but the implication of multiple societies on different world provide havens for splinter groups who fail to peacefully integrate into a world wide society. Gordon Dickson had his splinter group planets too but they weren't quite as peaceful.
From my perspective this book really promotes the idea that if we have unlimited frontiers we can bleed off the violence of the world. Let the Sunnis and the Shias each settle their own planet and live their own way. North Korea on it's own planet sounds really good as they periodically are out of this world anyway.
The book does a lot of searching for solutions to an invasion after losing the innate fighting nature of human beings. The resolution is satisfying on many levels.
I recommend the book.
Web Site: http://www.johndalmas.com/
This isn't a new book. It was published in 2001. Looking at Dalmas birth date, he appears to be 89 years old. I find that interesting in that his first book that I read was The Yngling that was serialized in Analog magazine in 1969. I guess as you age, you find other people older than you still kicking around and you have hope that you will be doing the same when you are that old.
Soldiers depicts an alien invasion of stupendous proportions. Play close attention in the first few pages to discover how the aliens got to our galaxy. It is referred to several times during the story but it can be easily missed.
Dalmas takes a contrarian opinion when writing this book. Most stories see the human race as extremely competitive and very pugnacious. Dalmas takes a different tact an depicts the human race as having divested itself of negative, war like behavior. He doesn't state it but the implication of multiple societies on different world provide havens for splinter groups who fail to peacefully integrate into a world wide society. Gordon Dickson had his splinter group planets too but they weren't quite as peaceful.
From my perspective this book really promotes the idea that if we have unlimited frontiers we can bleed off the violence of the world. Let the Sunnis and the Shias each settle their own planet and live their own way. North Korea on it's own planet sounds really good as they periodically are out of this world anyway.
The book does a lot of searching for solutions to an invasion after losing the innate fighting nature of human beings. The resolution is satisfying on many levels.
I recommend the book.
Web Site: http://www.johndalmas.com/
August 15, 2012
In this novel, humans have spread throughout the galaxy without encountering any other sentient life forms. Then, one day, a group of war-like aliens are transported to the edge of human space from another galaxy. Dalmas explores this situation by looking at it from several characters' viewpoints including those of the aliens. The plot moves forward and he lets us get to know some of the characters well enough to grow attached to them. I thought his look at the spiritual development of humankind was especially interesting.
November 15, 2008
Long and a bit boring, overfocused in religion. The author seems to feel a need to make all characters deeply religious and tolerant, and to pack as many different religions (real or invented) as he can.
Not smart enough to be interesting that way, the military action fizzles by creating a terribly ineffectual fictional adversary.
Not smart enough to be interesting that way, the military action fizzles by creating a terribly ineffectual fictional adversary.
October 17, 2013
The story had some interesting ideas, but they were never really developed and the overall style left me wanting. Too many events seemed random and without any real reason. At the end, I wondered what the point of it all had been. There is far better military Sci-Fi with similar themes, such as the Starfire series by Dave Webber and Steve White.
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January 9, 2010baen ebook
February 24, 2013
Decent story.
May 11, 2016
This book is absolutely awesome! I finished this book in two days. It could have been one, but work got in the way.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews